Where are you Wesley?!
Quick note to you all...I am so sorry that it has been so long since I've corresponded! I've been rather sick for the past two weeks or so..but I'm feeling a hundred ten percent now and I'm FULLY back in the game!
The trip to the Cliffs of Moher was a completely amazing experience...one I would happily experience over and over again...just to see the Cliffs once more. We began our morning by once again getting up early on a Saturday--no easy task when we had been to several pubs ot hear live music until late the night before. We hopped onto the Bally tour bus that was to take us around the entire day...and immediately fell asleep agaist the soft cushoions fo the coach. By the time the coach left the Galway tourist office, we must have made quite a fetching picture indeed-my head on Megan's shoulder, her cheek resting on my head, Monica curled up against the window and Kristen's head on her lap! Our tour guide's rudimentary lavalier microphone (hurrah for Production class for teaching me what that actually MEANS!) which produced this horrible ring and echo forced us from our sleep just in time to catch sight of the Galway crystal factory as we were leaving town. The chandeliers were stunning to behold through the window...never have I seen crystal and gold intermeshed in such intricate and delicate designs...it was like something out of the movies! One had celtic crosses lining its edge with what I believe was the O'Brien family crest stamped onto each tier of the crystal.
The bus ride through the Burren was jarring and violent at best...it was shocking to see the ease with which the driver handled the curving narrow roads..I was so sure that we were going to tip over everytime we went around a bend or even worse...run into another car (I'm still getting used to driving on the other side of the road and frequently find myself confused as to why there appears to be no driver for a car...BEFORE I remember that the passenger I see is indeed the DRIVER!!!). However, any discomfort we felt dissapated when we stopped briefly at Dunguaire Castle.
The Castle itself was built around the 16th century by one of the O'Heyne family, the lords of UI Fiachroach Aidhne (I really hope I spelled that right...this is all from memory). To see the castle is like seeing a Disney fairy tale brought to life...I was SO sure that my prince charming was going to come riding out of the portcullis and whisk me off into the setting sun (which incidentally was RISING at the moment rather than setting). To see the early morning sun rising over the hills of the Burren to shimmer across the lake...the mists from the early morning rain still swirling around the water...the regal swans gliding....I felt as if I was in a dream...and never wanted to wake up!
We stopped for lunch at Doolin, which is one of the most musically oriented towns of Ireland. Apparently every night there is traditional Irish music and dancing in all of the pubs. On the wall of the pub we saw a sticker for Milwaukee's Irish Fest...I got SO excited to see a reminder of "home". Apparently the pub and its patrons make the trip to Milwaukee every summer to play and exhibit during the week long festival. Heather and I shopped a bit and I debated buying a gorgeous painting filled with the brilliant purples and entrancing grays of the Burren hills while she bought a handmade bag...but as I couldn't decide, and the bus was about to leave...I left the painting there in hopes that I could return for it someday.
Finally we made it to the highlight of the day...The Cliffs of Moher. For any of you who have seen The Princess Bride, their more familiar name would be....the cliffs of Insanity. Yes, the REAL cliffs of Insanity used in THE PRINCESS BRIDE!!! I was in pure giddy shock over the fact that I was standing where Wesley, who happens to be, in my opinion, one of the greatest, most dashing, heroic, HANDSOME heroes of any fairy tale brought to life, once stood. I almost expected him to burst over the edge of the cliff in his black mask and cape demanding where he could find Buttercup. *Pause for Appreciative sigh*
The Cliffs themselves literally left me breathless. I climbed to the top of one peak and stood there looking out into the open sea, staggered by the image of the jagged coastline of Ireland and the strength of the rugged rock jutting out into the mists. The cliffs seemed almost alive...standing there proudly and with determination, always resisting the pull of the sea. The history of it all was overwhelming...hundreds of years ago, men had stood where I stood, watching for the advance of enemy ships from their perch high on the rock. They had braved being slammed up against the rock of the cliffs in their boats to collect what the sea chose to throw upon the shore below. I couldn't help but wonder what their thoughts were as they stood where I was standing... whether they ever imagined the wild beauty of their home would, hundreds of years later, be one of the last relatively untamed and unpopulated areas of the world?
It is so sad to realize how truly industrialized America is. While advances in industry have provided us with so many conviences that have prolonged life and have made it undeniably more comfortable, I wonder if it was all worth it...to steamroll the hills, tear out the grass and trees to make room for cities, factories, railroads, and shopping malls. How much we have gained, but also...how incredibly much we have lost.
Love to you all always,
Laura
The trip to the Cliffs of Moher was a completely amazing experience...one I would happily experience over and over again...just to see the Cliffs once more. We began our morning by once again getting up early on a Saturday--no easy task when we had been to several pubs ot hear live music until late the night before. We hopped onto the Bally tour bus that was to take us around the entire day...and immediately fell asleep agaist the soft cushoions fo the coach. By the time the coach left the Galway tourist office, we must have made quite a fetching picture indeed-my head on Megan's shoulder, her cheek resting on my head, Monica curled up against the window and Kristen's head on her lap! Our tour guide's rudimentary lavalier microphone (hurrah for Production class for teaching me what that actually MEANS!) which produced this horrible ring and echo forced us from our sleep just in time to catch sight of the Galway crystal factory as we were leaving town. The chandeliers were stunning to behold through the window...never have I seen crystal and gold intermeshed in such intricate and delicate designs...it was like something out of the movies! One had celtic crosses lining its edge with what I believe was the O'Brien family crest stamped onto each tier of the crystal.
The bus ride through the Burren was jarring and violent at best...it was shocking to see the ease with which the driver handled the curving narrow roads..I was so sure that we were going to tip over everytime we went around a bend or even worse...run into another car (I'm still getting used to driving on the other side of the road and frequently find myself confused as to why there appears to be no driver for a car...BEFORE I remember that the passenger I see is indeed the DRIVER!!!). However, any discomfort we felt dissapated when we stopped briefly at Dunguaire Castle.
The Castle itself was built around the 16th century by one of the O'Heyne family, the lords of UI Fiachroach Aidhne (I really hope I spelled that right...this is all from memory). To see the castle is like seeing a Disney fairy tale brought to life...I was SO sure that my prince charming was going to come riding out of the portcullis and whisk me off into the setting sun (which incidentally was RISING at the moment rather than setting). To see the early morning sun rising over the hills of the Burren to shimmer across the lake...the mists from the early morning rain still swirling around the water...the regal swans gliding....I felt as if I was in a dream...and never wanted to wake up!
We stopped for lunch at Doolin, which is one of the most musically oriented towns of Ireland. Apparently every night there is traditional Irish music and dancing in all of the pubs. On the wall of the pub we saw a sticker for Milwaukee's Irish Fest...I got SO excited to see a reminder of "home". Apparently the pub and its patrons make the trip to Milwaukee every summer to play and exhibit during the week long festival. Heather and I shopped a bit and I debated buying a gorgeous painting filled with the brilliant purples and entrancing grays of the Burren hills while she bought a handmade bag...but as I couldn't decide, and the bus was about to leave...I left the painting there in hopes that I could return for it someday.
Finally we made it to the highlight of the day...The Cliffs of Moher. For any of you who have seen The Princess Bride, their more familiar name would be....the cliffs of Insanity. Yes, the REAL cliffs of Insanity used in THE PRINCESS BRIDE!!! I was in pure giddy shock over the fact that I was standing where Wesley, who happens to be, in my opinion, one of the greatest, most dashing, heroic, HANDSOME heroes of any fairy tale brought to life, once stood. I almost expected him to burst over the edge of the cliff in his black mask and cape demanding where he could find Buttercup. *Pause for Appreciative sigh*
The Cliffs themselves literally left me breathless. I climbed to the top of one peak and stood there looking out into the open sea, staggered by the image of the jagged coastline of Ireland and the strength of the rugged rock jutting out into the mists. The cliffs seemed almost alive...standing there proudly and with determination, always resisting the pull of the sea. The history of it all was overwhelming...hundreds of years ago, men had stood where I stood, watching for the advance of enemy ships from their perch high on the rock. They had braved being slammed up against the rock of the cliffs in their boats to collect what the sea chose to throw upon the shore below. I couldn't help but wonder what their thoughts were as they stood where I was standing... whether they ever imagined the wild beauty of their home would, hundreds of years later, be one of the last relatively untamed and unpopulated areas of the world?
It is so sad to realize how truly industrialized America is. While advances in industry have provided us with so many conviences that have prolonged life and have made it undeniably more comfortable, I wonder if it was all worth it...to steamroll the hills, tear out the grass and trees to make room for cities, factories, railroads, and shopping malls. How much we have gained, but also...how incredibly much we have lost.
Love to you all always,
Laura